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Why You’re So Groggy, Cranky and Obnoxious

The importance of REM sleep.

By Kevin RR Williams

HEALTH Despite the morning coffee-marinating ritual, others try to stay clear of you. They belittle your ideas, complain about your work performance and harp about your procrastination. No one seems to appreciate your regularly working well into the wee hours while everyone else is asleep.

Ah, sleep. Most people claim to love it. But as we grow older and life gets more complicated, sleep can become elusive. New parents quickly learn that when a toddler gets cranky it needs a nap. Perhaps you try to get by with catnaps during breaks (or even during prolonged “stares” at your computer screen). Has your regular caffeine infused energy boost lost its effect? Even after a so-called good night’s sleep you may not feel rested. Is there such a thing as non-rejuvenating sleep?

Catnap is a misnomer. Most people assume it means felines take short naps. However, the average cat sleeps 15 hours per day. These crepuscular creatures are most active dusk to dawn. So the next time you say you need a catnap, it may mean that you will disconnect for at least half a day and work during early-morning hours. Productive humans cannot usually adopt the sleeping habits of cats unless they are healing from a major illness, sedated, comatose or slothful.

Five-Stage Sleep Cycle

Of the various stages of sleep, it is important to achieve rapid eye movement (REM) because this is the restorative part of your sleep cycle. Typically, you begin the sleep cycle with a period of four-stage non-REM (NREM) sleep followed by a very short period of REM sleep. Each stage can last from 5 to 15 minutes. A completed cycle of sleep progresses from stages 1 to 4 before REM sleep is attained, then the cycle repeats. Typically, twenty to twenty-five percent of your sleep time is REM. So it may take eight hours to achieve betwen 1.6 and 2 hours of REM sleep. Actual duration of cycles varies for each sleep period.

“Sleep is not a luxury,” says Dr. James O’Brien, medical director of the Boston SleepCare Center in Waltham, Mass. “It’s a necessity for optimal functioning.” Some researchers theorize that dreams are the ways in which the brain processes emotions, information, memories, and stress. So what you learned during the day is imprinted and emotional stresses are released as we sleep.

Sleep…is a necessity for optimal functioning.

Do you remember your dreams or is sleep just a dark void? While dreams can occur in other deep-sleep stages, you experience most dreams during REM sleep. Deprive yourself of REM and a failsafe kicks in. The next time you doze off, your body goes directly into REM sleep. Within a few moments of your head touching the pillow, you doze off into a deep sleep. “Honey, I’m too tired” may not be aversion to other nightime activities when there is sleep debt.

Sleep deprivation can be self-induced. Perhaps you need to work two shifts to care for a family. A newborn child can keep parents up at night. An obsessive nature may cause you to forego sleep in order to make progress on hobbies or freelance work. These behaviors disrupt circadian rhythm and reduce overall productivity. Parts of your work completed during sleep deprivation may resemble results of an intoxicated individual.

Interfering with the normal sleep cycle can cause grogginess, forgetfulness, lack of concentration and diminished work performance. In simple terms there are NREM and REM periods of sleep. For finer distinction, Rebecca Turner who teaches lucid dreaming, descibes five sleep stages:

NREM Stage 1 is a light sleep from which you are easily woken. You begin to lose muscle tone, causing twitches and hypnic jerks. You have hypnagogic hallucinations, swirling light and color patterns that hypnotize your mind into a restful sleep. Stage 1 also marks the loss of self-awareness and most sensory attachment to the physical world. Your brainwave frequencies descend from Alpha through Theta (4-7 Hz).

NREM Stage 2 is marked by a loss of nearly all muscle tone so your physical body can’t act out your forthcoming dreams. Although your brainwaves have slowed further, they do show brief bursts of higher brainwave activity called sleep spindles and K-complexes. You spend around half of all your sleep in Stage 2; a light, dreamless sleep.

NREM Stage 3 and 4 is known as slow-wave sleep (SWS), consisting of unconscious delta activity. The sleeper is less responsive to the environment and most stimuli cause no reaction. If you are awwkened you will feel especially dopey and confused for a couple of minutes. Another dreamless stage of sleep, it is actually the most likely time for sleepwalking to occur.

REM Sleep marks the onset of dreaming. It’s known as paradoxical sleep because the sleeper, though showing more active brainwaves than before, is harder to awaken. If you are awwkened from REM sleep you are more likely to jump right back in during a later nap. REM sleep deprivation impairs your ability to learn complex tasks and form long term memories.

There are various circadian rhythm disorders. Advanced Sleep Phase Syndrome (ASPD) is a disorder in which a person goes to sleep earlier than desired (for example, between 6 p.m. and 9 p.m.) and wakes up earlier than desired (for example, between 1 a.m. and 5 a.m.). Delayed Sleep Phase Syndrome (DSPS) is a disorder of sleep timing. People with DSPS tend to fall asleep very late at night and have difficulty waking up in time for work, school, or social engagements.

Insomnia Is An Enemy of Sleep

If sleep has so many benefits, why might you deprive yourself of it? Your body may feel tired but when you lay down your mind races. Rather than being relaxed, you feel anxious and unproductive. So you get up to either address the things running through your head or to take your mind off them.

The inability to fall or remain asleep is called insomnia. It can result from over­sleeping or from mental disorders such as depression. Insomnia may be a byproduct of chronic pain, frequent urination (during the night) or other health conditions. Instead of taking sleeping pills, doctors advise addressing the source of insomnia.

Insomnia, sleep apnea and narcolepsy may all result in daytime fatigue. They can interfere with the ability to reach the fifth stage of sleep throughout the night. But sleep disorders often have different underlying causes.

Sleep apnea is characterized by repetitive and brief disruptions of airflow while sleeping; it only occurs as a result of an underlying physical problem—airway blockage.

Narcolepsy is a chronic brain disorder that involves poor control of sleep-wake cycles. People with narcolepsy experience periods of extreme daytime sleepiness and sudden, bouts of sleep that can strike at any time. These “sleep attacks” usually last a few seconds to several minutes. Sleep apnea and narcolepsy almost always require intervention by a medical professional and perhaps a medical device, although some behavioral strategies may be offered. Insomnia is sometimes treated wth a prescription but generally requires addressing emotional or neurological imbalances.

Ramifications of Not Reaching REM Sleep Stages

Imagine driving a 5-speed manual transmission vehicle. You change gears each time the tachometer revs the engine around 3000 (gauge x10) revolutions per minute (RPM). Higher speeds use a larger gear to lower the RPM, decrease engine strain and improve fuel economy. Trying to accelerate up to highway speeds in low gear is called redlining (unsafe RPM). This can shorten the life of the transmission just as subsisting on light sleep without rejuvinating REM sleep is damaging to your health. Total sleep deprivation has proportionately more severe consequences.

After just 24 hours of no sleep, detrimental changes in your body start occurring. Stress hormone and blood pressure levels rise. Following one to two days of no sleep, your body decreases its ability to properly metabolize glucose; the immune system stops working as well and your body’s internal temperature begins to sink. A high school student by the name of Randy Gardner attempted to set a world record in sleep deprivation. Within 11 days, he experienced eyesight problems, hallucinations, speech and memory anomalies.

There is conflicting information regarding what happens if you are not reaching your sleep REM stage. But problems may occur in cognition and pain sensitivity as well as in other areas according to some studies. Not reaching your sleep REM state can be beneficial in a few circumstances but sleep deprivation is not a therapy for depression to consider. Studies on the subject of rapid eye movement and sleep deprivation have found:

Lack of rapid eye movement sleep may interfere with long term memory. Rats deprived of rapid eye movement sleep experienced reduced cell proliferation in the part of the brain associated with long term memory in a study by Dennis McGinty, PhD.

Weight problems are associated with a lack of this stage of sleep. Reduced REM sleep may contribute to weight problems in teenagers and children, according to a University of Pittsburgh study.

You may be more sensitive to pain without enough sleep. Acute pain sensitivity may increase with lack of rapid eye movement sleep, according to a study at Henry Ford Hospital.

Coping skills and reflexes may diminish. A University of Wisconsin study found that rats deprived of rapid eye movement sleep had reduced ability to handle difficult situations and to show defensive responses in threatening environments.

Learning and Memory

The fifth stage of sleep may play a role in learning and memory. The article, "Sleep Learning, and Memory" from Harvard Medical School’s Division of Sleep Medicine explores the relationship between sleep, memory and learning:

People participating in an intensive language course experienced an increase of REM. This indicates that the brain requires more REM sleep in order to assimilate the new information.

Mice in studies show an increase in REM sleep after finishing a new path through a maze. This means that the mice may require more of this stage of sleep to absorb the lessons learned in the experience.

The fifth stage seems to play a role in procedural memory (sequential steps to complete tasks). It appears that this stage of sleep can help you remember how to complete tasks.

As with many sleep issues, the role of rapid eye movement in learning and memory is still being explored.

Get A Good Night’s Sleep

Your brain creates a hormone called melatonin that senses the darkness and primes you for sleep.

Exercise is one of several practical, non-pharmaceutical insomnia remedies; take a 20-minute brisk walk during the morning or early evening. Avoid caffeinated beverages. Engage in relaxing activities such as a warm bath before bedtime. Invest in a comfortable mattress. Avert your eyes from illuminated screens in the hours leading up to sleep. (Some mobile devices include a Blue Shade feature to improve rest. Even dim light can interfere with a person’s circadian rhythm and secretion of a neurological hormone called melatonin.) Darken the room completely; your brain creates melatonin that senses the darkness and primes you for sleep. Don’t use your bed for work or watching television; your bed is a place for sleep.

Software developers have tapped into the motion sensors and gyroscopes within modern smartphones to record sleep paterns. One example is called Good Morning Alarm Clock. Without measuring brainwaves, respiration and heartbeat, such apps basically determine NREM Stage 1 states of movement (light sleep) and anything from NREM Stage 2 to REM motionless (deep sleep) in order to count sleep cycles. This is achieved by launching the app and placing it on the bed beside you as you sleep. Some include soothing sounds that help you fall asleep and alarms that go off at the optimal sleep cycle ending.

The interesting points to take away is that sleep should not be neglected. Furthermore, you can sleep without actually being rested when deprived of REM sleep. There are numerous causes and remedies for sleep disorders. Speak with a medical professional if behavioral changes don’t result in a good night’s sleep. It is quite possible that many toxic social behaviors will subside as a more pleasant personality emerges with more peaceful deep sleep. Goodnight and stay A Bit More Healthy.